Apologies if it was your concern over being told to use VS which prompted your post. I misunderstood and thought that your concern was at being told to limit Vertical Speed at 1000 ft to cleared levels in RVSM airspace to 1000 ft/min.

What was it Ernest K Gann wrote? "Rule books are only paper; they will never cushion an impact between stone and metal" (Or words to that effect)

If you have legitimate concerns about the safe AFS mode to use, perhaps you should use an anonymous reporting system such as CHIRP to air such concerns?

Airmanship always outvotes dogma!

Two concerns really. Is it a hard and fast rule to limit ROC/ROD below 1000fpm over the last 1000ft to go?(apparently not, going on the various posts here). AND Im not a happy chappy with respect to using V/S as a pitch mode at say 38000ft., for reasons that have been discussed to death previously and where the consensus is that said mode has safety concerns.